2003 D.

Brodley 1
Han Shan Poem #201
1
Alone above the peak it rounds,
Han Shan Moon;
Lighting up the crystal sky,
it shows, theres not a single
thing.
A natural wish fulfilling jewel,
yet risen, behind this body too,
Behind self-graspingmountains
of psycho-physicality.
2 Translated Antipodes
1
Based on trans. by Robert G. Hendricks, in The Poetry of Han Shan, SUNY
1990
Han Shan Poem #202
1
Facing the valley, before me,
there I am in the emerald flow;
Or, am I cliff side,
seated on these boulders, solid and low?
My mind is like a lone cloud, on what could it
alight,
So though in the far far distance,
worldly things;
No reason to pursue them.
2003 D. Brodley 3
By Pema Karpo
Upon the lake of this world,
the night blooming lily
looks down from her stem,
Grown close to the water clarifying moon,
her dearest friend.
I am the moon who must depart
to wander the hours, day and night;
Circling the world, I will return,
here, to this southern land, tomorrow,
And, sending forth white light,
joyful to see,
for the night blooming lilies in their grove,
I am the yogi who has mastered the dark,
protecting the lily pond from hailstorms.
In this high meadowed valley,
the lovely ornament flowers in blue;
Have grown close to their friend, little tiger
bee.
The cold winds arrived,
time to take up my things;
Having rounded the ends of the forest,
4 Translated Antipodes
in a moment here to meadow land
valleyIll return
To this oases of Ornament-flowers, filling it
with the buzzing roar of my song;
Protecting you from hoarfrost,
with fog brought from southern cloud
lands.
The three valleys of Lhodrakso pleasant a
place for theWandering-Water River
Grown close to their friend,
the yogi White Lotus.
The hour to act has come,
and White Lotus with his things,
must depart,
Rounding the lands of Lho and Tsang in a
moment,
Ill return to this wondrous homeland,
To set in motion the pure and holy dharma
teachings,
offering this gift, so I might reside,
Your rare-and-supreme, lama,
protecting you from karmic obstacles.
Pemakarpo
(White-lotus)
2003 D. Brodley 5
NIEN-NU CHIAO
1
Tune: The delights of nu chiao
Flowing east, the mighty river waves
emblems of a thousand generations swept away.
Lord Chous Red Cliff west, people say,
from the Old Fort, dates to the Three Kingdom
age.
It thrusts into the air, above the tumbled rocks;
surges roar, dashed upon the shores;
rolling drifts of snow, by the thousands,
brush strokes flow into vivid river mountains;
The myriad heroes who once were!
The young Lord then, I now recall,
was newly married to the young Miss Chiao,
Silken capped, held a fan of feathers,
reminiscent of his valorous features.
Amid the talk and laughter,
his enemies ships a smoke,
and in the drifting ashes
My rising thoughts, for the country of yore
grey hairs sprouted before their time,
which could kindle a quixotic smile;
But, isnt this life so like a dream,
a cup of wine
moon on the river
To which Ill pour out my libations.
1
Reworking of trans. by Chu Tu-kao in Anthology of Chinese Literature 1965
6 Translated Antipodes
Wang Wei c. 700-761
L Zha
In the empty mountains
no one seen;
Yet echoed voices
were heard.
Receeding beams entered deep
the wood;
Returned upon the blue-green
moss
2003 D. Brodley 7
Jin-y Fu-zhou yu
Tonight my wife is viewing
Fu-chow moon, alone;
At so profound a distance
Our children can not plumb
The memories of Chang-an.
Her hair is clouded over
With redolant mists is dampaned;
Crystal night has turned
Her cold cold arms into jade.
When again shall we lie beneath
The emptied curtains
Our moonlit tear streaks end.
8 Translated Antipodes
A Farewell
To Inaba I go Farewell!
To its mountains thick with pine.
But if only you should pine for me,
To you, I'll return as once youll
see!
Yukihira
(Kokin Shu VIII)
2003 D. Brodley 9
Lotus Dew
The lotus blossom is so true,
Unsullied are its petals blue,
By precious jewels deceiving,
Those diamond dew drops seeming.
1
Henjo
(Kokin Shu V.1)
1
The lotus represents the unsullied truth; the diamond-like dew, the things of this
world which dazzle us with their splendor but turn out to be as ephemeral as dew.
Henjo summerizes the entirety of Buddhist thought in four simple stanzas.
10 Translated Antipodes
Couplets concerning the experience of
ecstasis in high contemplation:
I entered into no-knowing
and remained there in unknowing
the totality of knowledge transcending.
Into the unknown, I entered,
yet there, I saw myself seeing,
not knowing where I ventured,
great things was I understanding;
I dare not speak what I was feeling,
that for me there was no knowing,
the totality of knowledge transcending.
Of peace and also piety
that perfect knowledge was,
in profoundest singularity,
at no distance held, it was;
something so secret, o it does,
leave me so, that Im stammering,
the totality of knowledge transcending.
It was so very whelming,
so drawn inward and absorbing,
that in my very sensing
was of my senses, totally depriving
and to my spirit offering,
an understanding without understanding,
the totality of knowledge transcending.
2003 D. Brodley 11
He who arrives there, verily,
is released from self; for,
all that one knows primarily,
he now so does deplore,
his knowledge so does it soar,
that left without an understanding,
the totality of knowledge transcending.
The extent to which hes risen,
the less his mind can sight,
the more the cloud does darken
that cloud which lit the night;
1
whoever knows this in this light,
remains in the ever unknowing
the totality of knowledge transcending.
The knowing in unknowing
so deeply whelms
that wise men in debating
can never penetrate it
their seeing can never reach it
the non-understanding understanding,
the totality of knowledge transcending.
And it is an utter excellence,
which is the sum of every knowledge,
1
Richard Rolle in The Contra Amatores Mundi states: But also, as is said in other
places, He makes darkness his cover (Ps.xvii. 12), and He speaks in the pillar of
cloud (Ps. xcviii.7); because though what is felt is very delightful; still what is seen is
dark and cloudy (Rolle, Richard of Hampole, The Contra Amarores Mundi of
Richard Rolle of Hampole, ed. and trans. Paul F. Theiner [Berkely: UC. Press,
1968], p.174).
12 Translated Antipodes
neither our faculties, nor our science,
has the power to grasp this knowing;
for he who penetrates himself,
in unknowing, is his knowing
in his being ever transcending.
And if you should like to perceive,
what constitutes this sum of sciences
in the highest sense to conceive
of this, the divine essences,
it is the work of his clemencies
to leave us no way to understand,
what every knowledge does transcend.
2003 D. Brodley 13
My Truest Treasure So Traighterly Taken (updated
from Old English)
My truest treasure so traiterly taken,
So bitterly bound with biting bands;
How soon of thy servants was thou forsaken,
And loathsomely for my love hit with their hands.
The well of my weal so wrongously weighed,
So pulled out of prison to Pilate at prime;
Their stings and their strikes full solemnly you staid;
When they shot in your sight baith saliva and slime.
My hope, of my health, so hastened to be hanged,
So charged with your cross and coroned with thorn;
Full seared to your heart, your steps they harangued,
Me thinks your back burdened breaks, it bends
forelorn.
My salve, of my sore so sorryful in sight,
So naked and nailed your back, on the road;
Full hideously hanged; They heaved thee on high,
Let thee be set in stone all staked and there stood.
My dear worthy darling so doleful a sight
So staightly upright strained on the rood;
For your mickle meekness your mercy and might,
14 Translated Antipodes
You bete my cares with the cure of your blood;
Defender of my foes so found in the field,
So lovely alighted at evenings time
Your mother and her men, he unlaced your shield,
All wept there that were, your wounds were so wide.
My peerless prince so pure, I thee pray:
Thy mind of this mirror thou let me nought miss:
But wind up my will to wone with thee ay,
That you be burried in my breast and bring me to bliss.
Amen.
2003 D. Brodley 15
Kabir
51st Love Song
Peace-lovers,
Why struggle in the darkness looming?
Here in the body, blossoms r blooming.
Here the good creator does dwell.
Here the seven seas up well.
Here the plethora of stars.
Here, enbodied, jewels there are.
Here, the tester of the fools;
Here, a boundless music pools.
Here, the source of lifes revealed;
Kabir says,
Oh my humble friends, abide,
By this guru within who guides.
16 Translated Antipodes
Nepali Song
Youre just like me,
Oh moon!
Such a liar;
You and me
Sobbing,
deep deep within
While laughing,
in an outward show;
There's only one difference between us:
Your tears are making the dew,
And mine are making this song.
2003 D. Brodley 17
Saraha
To drive away impurities,
from this dream, I find,
When surrounded by the Gurus word,
where to hide Oh mind?
Curious the nature of illusion,
self and not-self seen,
This water bubble world,
self-void in freedom clearly gleaned.
18 Translated Antipodes
Arya Deva
The moon has set,
Her rays completely disappeared
So too, with mind
Sunk in ultimate freedom,
Eronious rays completely vanished.
2003 D. Brodley 19
XXVII. Song of Busuku (Bengali)
The lotus is in full bloom this midnight,
And thirty-two Yoginis, their limbs de-
light.
The moon was lead down the Avadhuti,
The jeweled word speaks simultaneity.
The moon up to Nirvana was ferried;
The Lotus up, the channel, to the pool
was carried.
Without characteristic ecstatic cessation,
Those whore aware of it their awakened.
Knowing union I awoke, I Busuku say,
In spontaneous freedom great ecstacy, I
play.
20 Translated Antipodes
Seng-chou (example of an early chain
sentence)
Being beyond apprehension,
phenomena, though unreal,
are a reality.
Manifesting unobstructedly,
phenomena, are a reality
that is unreal.
Phenomena, are unreal,
though they comprise reality,
but, are different from really being
something:
Manifesting as a reality,
they are not real,
still they are different from the unreal.
2003 D. Brodley 21
Li Bai
Observing my wine;
Unaware
Night flowers
filled my gown;
Drunk, I rose,
walked the moon stream;
Birdsgone,
peoplefew.
22 Translated Antipodes
Jang Ji (750 A.D.)
Moon falls
crow calls
To sky filled
with snow sprecks.
Along river,
Maples.
Sadly I faced,
the fishermans
lantern
Whos nodded off.
City Soochous
urban walls
And beyond,
O Cold-Mt. temple
In midnight rings
Whose bells
Sound, found
my wandering craft.
2003 D. Brodley 23
Lui Che (147-87 B.C. by the Emperor Wu
of Han
I hear the rustiling of her silken robes,
In our marbled courtyardunswept;
Alone and cold in my empty room
Moving leaves piled up the door,
Yet, I looked to find her there;
How terribly sad must I be?
24 Translated Antipodes
Longchenpa
In the mirror of mind, from bliss to pain,
As the sport of awareness, the yogin
trains.